COCOLALLA — More than 50 kids headed to school earlier this week at Southside Elementary, though not for traditional learning.

They were there to attend the second session of STEAM Curiosity Camp, which was created to give students an opportunity to build their curiosity of STEAM.

"When I wrote the grant, I wanted the students in the area to have an opportunity to continue their learning in the summer," said Southside librarian Lynette Leonard. "Many kids say they are bored during the summer, and as I thought about what I wanted to accomplish I thought about one of my favorite quotes, 'The cure for boredom is curiosity.' 

“I wanted to provide a program that would help these kids build that curiosity that is so important in life."

Leonard said the camp is designed to have students rotate through three classes, giving the opportunity to explore science, technology, engineering, art and math. The three classes were taught by Leonard and Title I teachers Tiffany Aarestad and Karin Beno.

In Leonard's class, for the technology and engineering strain, students had the opportunity to build Kamigami robots, which Leonard said is a "fun, exciting program" where students learned robotics and programing, as well as how bugs inspired the creation of the robots. It also incorporated art as the students folded the origami robot shells. In her video game design camp, students used Bloxels to learn about pixels and how they make up pictures. The students spent two days using the Bloxel blocks to create scenes and characters for their video games, which were downloaded into iPads. After creating the games, the students had the opportunity to play them and share them with other students.

In the Scratch camp for Kindergarten through second-grade students, the kids learned the basics of coding through creating sprites, or characters, and learned how to move them. In the Little Bits camp, Leonard said students learned about electricity and circuits, including energy sources, inputs and outputs. Students used the magnetic Little Bits to make lights turn on and off, a speaker system, turned wheels and fans using a energy source. The Little Bits STEAM experience exposed students to real world examples of applications, she said. 

In Aarestad's "Power of Super Science Survivor Camp" on Monday, the students were learning how to use a compass, and how to dial in change coordinates to find different items on the playground. They also learned the difference between true north and due north.  

"The students had a great time sharing and helping each other understand the use of a compass and the need to trust them to guide them out of potential trouble," Aarestad said. "In superhero camp, we are learning about what makes a super hero, such as, traits, strengths, superpowers, and how powers are scientifically explained."

They made a batmobile, explored how Spiderman climbs walls and what "spidey sense" is, using the engineering process to explain how superheroes have superpowers. Beno's class was dubbed, "Science Collides With Art." On Monday, the students were creating pendulum art where paint was placed in bottles hanging by a rope. Placing large, white sheets of paper under the contraption, the kids would start the bottle swinging back and forth, and as gravity took hold, the paint would create different, colorful designs for each student.

The camp was split into two summer sessions, with the first held June 25-26, and the second this past Monday and Tuesday. Leonard said 52 students attended the first and 56 for the second. The students at the camp ranged in grades K-6, and included some of the new students who will start school at Southside in the fall. Southside Principal Jacque Johnson said for the new students, attending the camp will make it "less of a mystery" when they start school, as they will have made a few friends and know the layout of the school. 

Of the camp itself, Johnson said it is "wonderful" that the small, rural school is able to provide such an opportunity in the summer.

"I can only imagine it helps the academics, but socially, a lot of our kids may not have as much play time as town kids, so its a chance to meet their friends — you can just see how excited they are," Johnson said.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.